Hi, I have the following question, and a bit of background on why its so important. I would appreciate your opinions. QUESTION: Is the M15 a boat a person by themselves can EASILY raise and lower the mast on the water with the rudder still in place? BACKGROUND: I have a wonderful problem, free moorage. There is always a but though. The moorage is on a river leading into a lake. At the mouth of the river is a fixed bridge 11 feet from the water line. (A Sunfish would'nt even make it under) To get out to sail and get home I have to step the mast on the water leaving and returning. I will often go out solo, so stepping the mast has to be easily done by a reasonably fit person. I'm not one to drill holes into boats to add things, like shrouds to keep the mast from swinging wildly. I looked at a Catalina 18 the other day, and there is no way I would feel comfortable stepping the mast every time I wanted to go out. The mast was on the heavy side, and there is no standing rigging to provide lateral support as the mast is lowered. I would end up not sailing the boat very often because of this. Following are my thoughts on the boat's requirements: MUST HAVE: - Ability for 1 person to EASILY raise and lower the mast on the water with the rudder in place. - The boat is new or close to new shape - Low maintenance, for a boat (Almost no \ no wood ) - Reasonable performance - Sloop rigged - Keel boat - Draft of 3 ft. or less with keel \ keel-centerboard up - Sail 4 adults - Comfortable seating in cockpit - Sleep 2 adults in the same berth without a post separating them - Cabin with allowance for port-a-pot so women friends have a discrete place to "go" - Full set of running lights - Ability to mount a motor WOULD BE NICE: - Cockpit benches of 6' or more, to lay down - Sitting headroom in cabin ~40" - No keel locker on cabin floor - Ability to beach - Lines all running to the cockpit NOT IMPORTANT - Easy on and off trailering (I won't trailer very often) - Galley (Won't use) You can reach me directly at bgranowitz@hotmail.com FYI - I live in Seattle Thanks, Brian _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
--- Brian Granowitz <bgranowitz@hotmail.com> wrote:
QUESTION: Is the M15 a boat a person by themselves can EASILY raise and lower the mast on the water with the rudder still in place?
Yes and No. You must have some form of boom crutch to hold the mast in place while you are motoring under the bridge. It would be relatively easy to make one that you would have to put up and down. This would be as much trouble as removing the rudder/tiller and replacing it the the boom crutch made for trailering. It is relatively easy to steer with the motor for short distances so you really don't need the rudder to get under the bridge. Practice first before you try tight quarters. I fly a masthead pennant (called a Nighthawk) and sometimes it gets so fouled on the shrouds and forestay that I have to drop the mast to disentangle it. I have done it a few times with my M15 and the mast is not that heavy. To make it easier you would have to replace the standard swag fitting on the forestay with a pelican hook.
Following are my thoughts on the boat's requirements:
MUST HAVE: - Sail 4 adults
The Montgomery 15 will certainly seat 4 adults but sailing with 4 can get awkward at best. One person will almost always be standing in the hatch, one and only one person will be moving side to side on tacks. If you try to keep guests on the high side by having all three people shuffle you have some hilarious stories to tell. How often do you really sail with 4 adults? If this is a primary requirement I would not buy an M15.
WOULD BE NICE: - Ability to beach I beach my M15 frequently but only if the water depth drops off enough not to cause the CB trunk to ground. Many of the shorelines have very gradual drop offs and you can anchor in shallow water and wade.
The M15 does meet all of your other requirements quite nicely. Thanks, Doug Kelch M15 #310 "Seas the Day" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
Brian For easy mast raising on the 15 you could attach a 4 part from the bow pulpit to the jib halyard and sit in your cockpit pull a line, and raise the mast with one hand. The mast only weighs 29 pounds. Very low stress and un-complicated. If you want to see how this system works for the 17, look at the 17 photos on Montgomeryboats.com (we did this for 80 year old Larry Vieu Jr. so he could raise the mast from the ground, see the photo sequence. There are lots of new photos on the website as of last week.) We haven't rigged this sytem for a 15 yet, but it would work real nice from a 15 cockpit, while in the water. You would want to add a pelican hook to the forestay to lock the headstay in place without trying to keep you balance on the foredeck. Fair winds Bob (949) 489-8227 PS M_23 update coming. Lots of good stuff. Brian Granowitz wrote:
Hi,
I have the following question, and a bit of background on why its so important. I would appreciate your opinions.
QUESTION: Is the M15 a boat a person by themselves can EASILY raise and lower the mast on the water with the rudder still in place?
BACKGROUND: I have a wonderful problem, free moorage. There is always a but though. The moorage is on a river leading into a lake. At the mouth of the river is a fixed bridge 11 feet from the water line. (A Sunfish would'nt even make it under)
To get out to sail and get home I have to step the mast on the water leaving and returning. I will often go out solo, so stepping the mast has to be easily done by a reasonably fit person. I'm not one to drill holes into boats to add things, like shrouds to keep the mast from swinging wildly.
I looked at a Catalina 18 the other day, and there is no way I would feel comfortable stepping the mast every time I wanted to go out. The mast was on the heavy side, and there is no standing rigging to provide lateral support as the mast is lowered. I would end up not sailing the boat very often because of this.
Following are my thoughts on the boat's requirements:
MUST HAVE:
- Ability for 1 person to EASILY raise and lower the mast on the water with the rudder in place. - The boat is new or close to new shape - Low maintenance, for a boat (Almost no \ no wood ) - Reasonable performance - Sloop rigged - Keel boat - Draft of 3 ft. or less with keel \ keel-centerboard up - Sail 4 adults - Comfortable seating in cockpit - Sleep 2 adults in the same berth without a post separating them - Cabin with allowance for port-a-pot so women friends have a discrete place to "go" - Full set of running lights - Ability to mount a motor
WOULD BE NICE: - Cockpit benches of 6' or more, to lay down - Sitting headroom in cabin ~40" - No keel locker on cabin floor - Ability to beach - Lines all running to the cockpit
NOT IMPORTANT - Easy on and off trailering (I won't trailer very often) - Galley (Won't use)
You can reach me directly at bgranowitz@hotmail.com
FYI - I live in Seattle
Thanks,
Brian
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participants (3)
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Bob -
Brian Granowitz -
Doug Kelch